


The Squire’s Tale

by Willowbarb



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire, game of thrones
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 19:57:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19180345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowbarb/pseuds/Willowbarb
Summary: There are many tales of knights, though the deeds of their squires rarely feature in them. Podrick Payne deserved one of his own...





	The Squire’s Tale

Of all the men Arya Stark might come to love some day in what had been the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Podrick Payne was the only one who might be her fitting match. A boy capable of serving Brienne of Tarth as her squire was no ordinary boy; the insults hurled at Brienne were echoed in those hurled at her squire, and he had ignored them all, just as he ignored the spiteful blows of those who would not have dared to attack Brienne. 

That boy became a man, casually shrugging off the millennia of precedent, proud of the years he spent serving the first woman in all of history to be knighted, fought alongside her, and almost died with them all in Winterfell.

Long ago he had watched as Brienne fought the Hound, both warriors thinking they were protecting Arya; he had not realised that Arya was watching too. He was too engrossed in the battle, and too proud of the woman he served, to see her.

But she saw him; in his youthful pride and in his passionate devotion.

And realised that not all men wanted to put you in a cage and call it defending you.

When Sandor Clegane had died she had taken the boon he gave her; her freedom to go, and be, whatever, and wherever she wanted. She still held that gift within her, and a part of her still mourned him, hoped that he would have been proud of the use she had made of it. 

When she had first gone to sea she had not realised that she could learn the arts of navigation as she had the blade; the same qualities of spatial awareness had made her excellent at both. And so she had poured herself into learning them, just as she had poured herself into learning the arts of death, and did them just as well. 

She had charted seas which Westeros did not even know existed, and she was famed in lands which did not even know that Westeros existed, much less cared.

Sandor Clegane would, she thought, have approved of that.

And when she finally returned to Kings Landing she met Podrick Payne once more. He had not changed; he still treated conventions as he had always done. He picked her up, and threw her in the air, and told her how good it was to see her, after he had caught her. She reciprocated by not stabbing him. 

He subsequently claimed that not stabbing him was proof that she agreed to marry him, and thus he had gained permission from the King, and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, to marry, and go wherever he wished for as long as he wished, which, as they were well aware, meant wherever Arya wished for as long as Arya wished. 

In truth, both Bran and Brienne recognised that like was calling to like, and it was wise not to stand in the way. Sandor Clegane would have wholeheartedly agreed with that too...


End file.
